Jeb Bush praises George W. Bush's low profile

DALLAS — On the eve of George W. Bush’s presidential library opening, Jeb Bush praised his brother Wednesday for keeping a low-profile since leaving office.

“I think my brother deserves a little credit for not sitting on the sidelines and publicly chirping,” the former Florida governor told a civics group at a luncheon speech. “I think that’s a great tradition in this country: that once you serve, you do your best and then you move on.”

Bush's major moments

“Of course, George and Laura are welcoming 30,000 of their closest friends to Dallas,” he said.

When he ended the Wednesday speech with a long riff on the importance of “leadership,” he commended a surprising ex-president: Lyndon Johnson. He announced that he has just finished reading the third volume of Robert Caro’s biographies on Lyndon Johnson.

“A crazy guy in a lot of ways,” he said of the Democrat who pushed the Great Society.

Bush credited LBJ with cutting taxes and passing the most far-reaching civil rights legislation in history in the weeks after John Kennedy’s assassination.

“It wasn’t done by sitting back,” said Bush, who will not speak Thursday at the museum dedication ceremony. “It wasn’t done by campaigning. It was done by personal engagement. He showed humility.”

Bush praised Johnson for keeping Kennedy’s cabinet, even though he knew its members didn’t respect him, and for “shaming” Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) into voting for the Civil Rights Act.

“We need people to get outside their comfort zones … leaders to have humility, to find consensus and compromise,” Bush said.

The bulk of Bush’s remarks focused on the need for high education standards and a call for comprehensive immigration reform.

Jeb Bush’s son, George P. Bush, who is running for Texas Land Commissioner next year,introduced him lovingly as a “gray hair,” a “voice of reason” and “an elder statesman within our party.” He also highlighted his high popularity rating in Florida more than six years after he left office.

“George, 60 is the new 40. Watch out dude,” Jeb, 60, joked to his son when he took the podium.